Leoma Lovegrove is one of the nominees for the inaugural Chrysalis Awards. The awards honor businesses and individuals who have positively impacted the local community. Award winners will be announced at a Celebration of Business and Tourism Luncheon and Trade Show on May 20, from 10:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. at Harborside Event Center in Fort Myers.

The event, co-produced by the Lee County Vistor and Convention Bureau and the Greater Fort Myers Chamber and held to commemorate National Travel and Tourism Week, celebrates the value of tourism and the community teamwork involved in maintaining and enhancing tourism as a major economic engine for the county. The event also is part of the VCB’s year-round

Team Tourism informational program to strengthen destination teamwork.

The new awards, designed to foster a stronger alliance between the tourism industry and the county’s business community, will honor recipients in the categories: Business Development, Eco-Innovation, Cultural Achievement, Education, Sports and Sales and Marketing. A seventh award category is the VCB’s long-standing Junonia Award, created to recognize those individuals who have positively impacted the local tourism community by demonstrating unique capabilities, leadership, commitment, and dedication.